When I’m sitting in my room, I find myself scrolling through Goodreads looking up quotes about life, happiness, love, friendships, etc. What can I say, I like quotes. I’m the daughter of a writer, maybe that’s why.
When I find these quotes, I write them down on my notes in my laptop so that I can go through and read them whenever I’d like to. Believe it or not, they come in handy pretty often. Sometimes there’s just certain things you need to hear. I think that these quotes are some of those things.
"People do not change, they are merely revealed." - Anne Enright
Probably one of the more important lessons there is to learn in life, as well as one of the harder lessons. You let yourself get close to people, and you think you know them, and then they up and leave. The easiest thing to tell yourself is that you're just different people, and that they’ve changed but it’s for the better. You’re right about one thing: it is for the better, because they haven’t changed. You just finally saw through them.
"Hard work is a prison sentence only if it does not have meaning." - Malcolm Gladwell
Honestly, I’m not quite sure how exactly I came across this quote. But I really like it a lot, and it makes perfect sense. What is the purpose in working if you’re not going to work hard? Put passion into your work; it gives you a little more purpose.
"Live to the point of tears." - Albert Camus
This is my boyfriend’s senior quote. Definitely something to live by. Happiness is a beautiful thing. You’re lucky enough to have things and to be able to do things that make you happy. So cry about it. Live above your potential, live so that you are not settling for anything. Live to be so happy that you’re overcome with good feeling.
"All, everything that I understand, I only understand because I love." - Leo Tolstoy
I love the life that I’ve been given. I love the hardships and the successes and the people, places and things. It’s hard to understand things if you don’t love them. If there’s no love in your life, it can get a little confusing. Open your heart up, you’ll find that once you love a little harder, you’ll understand a little more.
"There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature." - Jane Austen
Jane Austen hits the nail on the head, honestly. What’s the point in loving people only a little? If you don’t love all the way, then you're going to find that life will lose a little bit of its excitement. I find that if you aren’t loving anything, or anyone, all the way, then you’ll start to gradually make yourself unhappy. That aside, you owe it to the people in your life to be there for them, no matter what, and to love them wholeheartedly. You owe them that much.
"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." - Frederick Buechner
Another good lesson to learn. Buechner knows what he’s talking about. Throughout my life, I’ve had to deal with some sh*tty situations. I’ve been lied to, I’ve been toyed with and I’ve been left. Building back the ability to trust is a difficult thing to do, but you’ll never get it back if you don’t make any effort. It’s hard to tell yourself to not be afraid of getting hurt, but it’s something you have to do.
"If you let people into your life a little bit, they can be pretty damn amazing." - Sherman Alexie
As I already said, I’ve had a difficult time trusting people over the years. I’m afraid of it. But once I started letting people back in, my outlook on life changed almost immediately. I have some of the greatest friends now. They’re some of the best people I’ve ever met in my whole life, and I’m so thankful that I let go of the past enough to meet them. I’m in an incredible place in my life, and there’s no way I would be here if I didn’t have a little more faith in others.
This is definitely different from other articles I’ve written, but I have a thing for words. I’m thankful for all the lessons I’ve learned over the years, and I’m looking forward to learning more. Life has an interesting way of telling you what paths you're supposed to take, the people you’re supposed to meet and who you’re supposed to be. I leave you with my final, and probably my top favorite, quote.
"How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard." - A.A. Milne
